"Thank you, Mrs. McClane."
She gave me a narrow-eyed look. "I'm Colette."
"Yes, ma'am."
"I'm your mother-in-law and the grandmother to your daughter, so you will call me by my first name," she continued. "And I know my husband will feel the same about you calling him Malcolm."
"Yes, ma'am," I said with a smile.
"Oh, stop that and come here." She held out her arms and pulled me in for a tight hug. "A little girl. I'm so excited that I'm going to have another granddaughter."
I loved that she considered Jacks her granddaughter even though they weren't related by blood.
We heard more cars arrive and turned to see Cam and Brody pulling in behind her parents' car. Sierra and Ben were right behind them.
Jacks jumped out of her dad's SUV and skipped toward us. "Coco! Auntie Lee!" She stopped in front of me and looked carefully at my barely noticeable baby bump. "You don't look pregnant, Auntie Lee. Your belly isn't very big."
I smiled at her. "It's still growing, just like the baby. Right now, the baby is only the size of an orange. In another couple of months, she'll be the size of a cantaloupe and my belly will be a lot bigger."
She nodded.
"Speaking of growing, you look like you've grown two or three inches since the last time I saw you," Colette said. "Come give your Coco some sugar."
My heart melted at the sheer joy on Jacks' face when she hugged Colette. I'd gathered from listening to Cam talking about Brody's mother and his ex-wife, that Jacks didn't have a lot of affectionate women in her life.
It seemed that had changed now that Cam and Brody were married.
When Colette released her, Jacks came to me and gave me a careful hug. Then, my melted heart and had no chance of ever recovering because she whispered to my belly, "Hi, baby! I'm your cousin. I can't wait to meet you."
I managed to hold back my urge to cry when she looked up at me and grinned, her two front teeth missing.
I smiled back at her and blinked rapidly when she scampered off into the house.
"Oh, my God, she didn't say something rude, did she?" Cam asked as she approached and saw my tears.
I sniffed and shook my head, unable to speak because I knew I would burst into tears if I tried. I waved a hand at Colette, who seemed to understand what I wanted.
"She said hi to her cousin and said she couldn't wait to meet her."
Cam's eyes welled up. "Well, shit. That was sweet."
"Cameron McClane, language," Colette corrected.
"Cameron Murphy now," Brody said as he approached our group. He leaned in and gave Colette a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "You're beautiful as always, Colette. What did my wife do now and why are the three of you crying?"
Cam pinched Brody's side when he curled an arm around her shoulders, but he didn't even flinch. "It's your daughter's fault. She's too damn sweet and now the three of us are trying to shut down the waterworks."
"What'd she say now?" Brody asked, his expression worried.
"She said hi to the baby and told her she couldn't wait to meet her," I managed to choke out right before the tears started in earnest. "It was the sweetest thing ever."
It was at that moment my brothers decided to arrive.
I tried to get my tears under control as mass chaos descended on the front yard in the form of two rambunctious little boys, a surprisingly un-sullen teen girl, my four brothers, and Jacks, who came back outside when she heard the noise.
The two boys immediately joined forces with Jacks since they were all close in age and Corey, my thirteen-year-old niece and Robert's only child, waved at us before she followed them toward the backyard where the swing set and slide were set up just for the grandkids.
Letitia approached me and gave me a hug, ignoring my tears. She'd had two babies and she knew that the hormones were the real thing and could hit at any time. After saying hello to Colette, Cam, and Brody, she went back to the car and started unloading food and bags. D.J., the oblivious butthead, didn't help her but came toward me warily and gave me a quick hug.
